http://www.maariv.co.il/news/israel/Article-539712
written in Hebrew. Translated into English by Sally Zahav for Women in Green
Yesha Council General Director promises a “surprise” in the next Knesset session
In a Facebook post that has slipped under the radar, Shilo Adler claimed that “We should wait” for the new course of action regarding application of sovereignty in the territories. Will the Right be setting out in a rare “political initiative”? Karni Eldad’s column
A totally routine post that Yesha Council General Director Shilo Adler put on Facebook could easily have turned into the leading headline. Adler detailed the meetings and excursions with government ministers that the Yesha Council has held, and expressed pride in the Council’s accomplishments in inculcating the importance of the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria. Up to this point – it is logical and familiar. The real surprise is hidden between the lines: one of the responders to the post was incensed about the tone of the director’s words, and wrote to Adler that he was fed up with talk, meetings and “blah blah”, as he defined it, and that the time has come for annexation, and now. He of course was referring to application of Israeli law in Judea and Samaria, and to the legal annexation of the territory, as was done with the Golan and eastern Jerusalem. The general director apparently continued in the same vein, and casually answered him: Wait for the next session of the Knesset. There are likely to be surprises.
Unaware readers and those looking on from afar at the events might have missed a beat; they have just read, black on Facebook, that the general director of the Yesha Council promises the application of Israeli sovereignty over the territory that was liberated in ’67. The significance of this step is similar to that of a small atomic bomb. A solid and logical step, but undoubtedly will shake Israel and the world at large to its very foundations. There is no way of knowing what the Palestinians would do, but one may guess. It is also not clear what Kahlon would do, but it’s not sure that this is what he prays for. And the US? And the European Union? And Egypt? The annexation of Judea and Samaria would cause both great joy and great opposition. Not the kind of news you expect to read as a casual response to a post.
What is the basis for Adler’s seemingly premature promise? Has some senior minister promised him something? Heads of the Yesha councils with whom I spoke do not know of such a promise. They, of course, support a decision for sovereignty, but do not see how the present government of Israel would muster the necessary courage in light of the many question marks mentioned in the above paragraph, even if there are in this right-leaning government many who support this step. It is enough to hear Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan’s speech in Hevron this week, at the launching of the jubilee celebration of the settlement, to understand that from our point of view, this course of action is absolutely necessary.
And he is not the only one: Naftali Bennett, for example, talks about the “Stability Plan”, which includes gradual annexation of the territories of Judea and Samaria. He suggests beginning with the application of Israeli law in Area C, which comprises 60% of Judea and Samaria, and where 400 thousand Jews live and only 70 thousand Arabs live. The education minister would offer citizenship or residency to the Arabs. Even if they all chose citizenship, which the minister does not consider to be a reasonable possibility, it is a price that the State of Israel is capable of paying, and it would be worth it.
But don’t worry, my friends on the Left. You have a true friend in the government, who will not permit this dream to be realized so quickly, certainly not on his watch: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And with no clear statement from him, there is no reason to celebrate or to worry, depending on which group you belong to.
The Yesha Council, for its part, does what is expected from it, puts pressure and stimulates the Land of Israel Lobby to act in the next session of Knesset and focus on one message: the application of sovereignty in Yosh (Judea and Samaria). They intend to sweeten the plan for those who are opposed to it or are dismayed by it, and offer a plan in phases: Gush Adumim first. Why there, specifically? Because just as no one can imagine transferring Ariel, obviously, no realistic political figure could imagine uprooting Ma’ale Adumim – even within the framework of the harshest future agreement. Besides the fact that tens of thousands of Jews live in that area, there are no Arab settlements beside a number of Bedouin tents. Even with the broad support that they get from the European Union, in the form of illegal trailer homes built next to Route 1, this is still not an organized and authorized community on Palestinian land or a crowded Palestinian settlement as in the area of Nablus, Ramallah or Bethlehem.
But as usual, the main reason is psychological. The People of Israel travels on this route in one direction to Eilat and in the other direction to Tiberias. Route 1 passes through that area and takes us eastward from Jerusalem. Young female hitchhikers in T-shirts will always be looking for dubious rides there. It is never considered “the territories”, and most of the people are not at all aware that there is no Israeli sovereignty there, but rather, military administration. The application of sovereignty for the length of the route would not shake the ground of the Syrian-African Rift, at least not for the Israeli public.
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Alongside this process something else interesting is happening: It has been a number of years already, that it is Women in Green who initiate and carry the banner of the idea of sovereignty. This is a non-governmental organization led by Nadia Matar and Yehudit Katsover, two bulldozers who succeed in changing reality, with tenacity and boundless love. They establish outposts, initiate campaigns and apply pressure so that roads for Jewish travelers will be opened, and especially – they have turned the idea of sovereignty into a legitimate concept. So that the Right will also have a plan, something to place on the table. Because until now, we have been busy saying what not to do, without presenting an alternative idea.
So what is interesting here? To the best of my knowledge, Women in Green has never been invited to a discussion with the Yesha Council. They were considered to be too radical. What has changed? So much has changed. Women in Green has perhaps become a bit more central, but mainly – the Yesha Council has perhaps realized that power is in the hands of the People and the organizations that spring up from it. Since the expulsion from Gush Katif the Yesha Council has become an irrelevant body, with very little influence. It’s true that there is no other body to turn to with a request for “settlers’ response”, but it is a body with a small budget and little support among the settler community at large. Opening the lines and ears to new ideas and new bodies may help both sides, especially the settlement enterprise itself.